Have You Been Here Before...? Past Life Regression.

Travel across the sands of time.

Were you the wise woman?

What is Past Life Regression?

Past Life Regression (PLR) is a popular method of allowing individuals to uncover memories of previous lives by means of returning, in their minds eye, to re-experience parts of those lives, usually facilitated by hypnosis, meditation or visualisation. I was excited to find it on the curriculum of my Hypnotherapy training course back in 2000 as it was something I was fascinated by, but often not included in discussions around psychotherapy.
In PLR you may discover a life you have lived before. You may be a different sex, religion or race or live by values that you would find unusual or alien today.

Its use in therapy stems largely from the work of Dr Brian Weiss, an American psychologist who, although trained in science -based clinical hypnotherapy (and other disciplines) discovered that sending a client back to the origin of their issues could resolve them. This idea was not new, but was usually limited to taking the client back to their own childhood. The incident with his patient Catherine, where she went back beyond the start of her current life to a previous existence, is described in detail in his book Many Lives, Many Masters which became a worldwide bestseller. I was fortunate enough to train with Dr Weiss in 2011.
After the initial discovery, Dr Weiss did private research for a long period, not wanting to risk his professional reputation. Eventually he satisfied himself that the experiences people were having were real, at least to them, and were producing positive therapeutic change in their present lives.

An earlier researcher into reincarnation was Dr. Ian Stevenson. Over his forty years of international research, he amassed three thousand cases of children who claimed to remember past lives. Although he was cautious about claiming this as proof, he presented it as a serious body of research that strongly suggested that possibility.
A.R. Martin is credited with developing the early use of trance for past life regressions, publishing his research in 1942. It is difficult to evaluate the work though, as we have no record of how ‘suggestive’ Martin may have been in directing his subjects toward this desired outcome.

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Were you there?

A druid bowl.

Dr. Helen Wambach, working in the 1960s, was initially a sceptic. Using a statistical basis for her experiments she carried out multiple group regressions and compared the results. Her results did not match her expectations and she actually experienced some of her own past lives. I currently offer PLR group workshops which feature regressions based on her pioneering work.

These days, although I do use regression in therapy, the majority of interest comes from open minded individuals who are curious as to who they may have been in a former life, and if anything from the past is informing their life today, positively or negatively, such as a particular talent or skill brought forward or a fear or phobia which doesn’t seem rooted in the present.

So, how can you experience a Past Life Regression?
Well, you have choices. First of all I should point out that a Past Life ‘Reading’ is not the same as a regression. Having a psychic tell you what they sense about your past may be interesting, but clients report that experiencing it in the first person under hypnosis as much more vivid.

For an actual regression, the cheapest, but least reliable, is the online, pre-recorded option where you are guided to relax and then step into a previous life and are asked questions. Although some people do have success with this, the pace of the recording can be too fast or too slow, or you may just not ‘get it’ at all. And although the recording may ask questions, it can’t respond or follow up on your answers, and nor can it effectively respond if you find yourself in distress for any reason.

This last point is something to be aware of even when having a regression in person. If you find yourself overwhelmed, upset, angry, or frightened, (known in hypnosis as an ‘abreaction’), can the person your are with handle it properly? As a professional psychotherapist I can work through any issue that may arise in regression and return you safely, with the issue resolved. This is much better than just bringing you out of trance and ending the session, which, sadly, is all too common.
The best option is a one to one regression which consists of a pre-booking chat, a simple but effective visualisation test and a couple of relaxation recordings before the actual regression session. The PLR session is 1.5 - 2 hours, and is carried out in person, with the option to record the past-life element of the session on your phone. Most clients remember everything they experience while in trance, and even recall more details in the following days.

A PLR group workshop can be a more affordable way to go, and is also fun to share with other attendees. I always put in a strong clear suggestion that the lives you will uncover in a group workshop are not traumatic ones, as that is not the place to do therapeutic work. I currently offer half day or full day sessions a couple of times a year in various locations. Contact me for details. If you have a group of six or more and can provide a suitable venue I can arrange a date just for you.

Is it real?
The ‘truth’ of the past lives we uncover cannot always be proved. Although there are numerous cases of a person recognising things about a place or an event that they could not reasonably have known, it is impossible to validate, given modern access to the internet. We may have learned something and forgotten it, seen it on tv or read it in a book. However, plenty of people do believe that these lives are real. We also find that the unconscious mind can use these sessions to bring up a life in which the client can explore elements which help then resolve an issue in their present lives.

And there are explanations other than reincarnation for those that do believe, too. Akashic records, hereditary memory, Jung's ‘Collective Unconscious’ - it is an area of endless fascination.

Paul Eagle. (Member of the Past Life Therapists Association) www.pastliferegessionsuffolk.co.uk

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A Templar Shield